“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I live in Stanton, about 4 miles away from here. About 5 years ago during the Christmas season, a young man in his 30’s who lived on the upper floor of the next condo from where I live, committed suicide. It took 10 days before he was discovered dead as his roommate was coming back home from a long vacation. Why did he commit suicide? Even today after 5 years or so, I don’t know the exact reason why he killed himself. But one thing I do know for sure is that he didn’t have a friend. No one cared enough about him to call or visit him while he had been dead for such a long time. He had neighbors including myself, but no one was interested enough about him to get to know and care for him.
Another story, My father passed away 7 years ago after having been hospitalized in several nursing homes for almost 30 years. All these years he had been in constant pain. And whenever I visited him, I so often felt depressed watching him in pain. Then, one day I asked him what was the hardest thing to bear in the nursing home. Do you know his answer? He didn’t say it was pain, rather he said it was loneliness. But thing is he was always with one or two other patients in the room and he was surrounded by many caretakers, some of whom were nice and friendly. Yet, even good, nice and friendly caretakers couldn’t help my father’s loneliness. Why was it?
No doubt it is always good to have a friendly people around, but let me remind you of what Pastor Rick warren said. He said what people really need is not friendly people but friend. I for one would rather have one sincere friend than 100 friendly people around me. I assume you feel the same. In fact this is why Jesus came. He came to become my friend. He came to become your friend.
The scripture verses we just read talk about what happened in Jesus’ final moments just before he died on the cross. He had spent 3 years with the disciples and now He already had the last supper with His disciples and it was about the time to be arrested and to die on the cross and Jesus said to His disciples: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” When He said, “someone lay down his life for his friends”, he was referring to Himself. He was going to lay down His own life for His disciples, whom He called His friends.
It wasn’t because they deserved such sacrifice. They were sinners just like you and I. Do you remember what they did? After the last supper, while Jesus was so troubled in His heart ahead of He death, they were arguing “among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.” (Luke 22:24)
After having been under Jesus’ example and teaching and training for 3 years or so, they still cared more about their being leader and reputation than the friendship among themselves. How about you and? As followers of Christ perhaps for many years, do you and I care our friendship with other brothers more than our own status and reputation? The obvious answer is more likely “No”.
If we are lonely and if we don’t have real friends, let’s not blame others; instead let’s blame ourselves because it was us who care more about our things, our need, and our reputation than our relationship with other brother and sisters. We may be nice and friendly but we are not ready to go all the way for others that we may become their friends because we always have our own things to take care of and we as the master of our lives have our own plans and ways to follow as of primary importance.
In fact that's exactly what sin is all about and why Jesus had to die. 700 years earlier before Jesus’ death, a prophet named Isaiah prophesied why Jesus had to die, saying, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
Sin is like sheep which strays away, following his own way. But, the Bible says, “Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed. 25 For we were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls.(1 Peter 2:24-25) We were straying as we followed our own way, but now we have returned to Jesus, the Shepherd and Overseer of our soul.
How that happened? Because Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And this is how we know what love is because Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. 1 Jn 3:16
This is to say, we didn’t even know what love is until we knew Jesus Christ had laid down His life for us. But now we know what love is because we now know Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
We didn’t know what love is, but Jesus took initiative and loved the sinners all the way and all the way that He as the Son of God came in flesh in this world and died for us on the cross.
Jesus’ disciples didn’t care about Him, but they rather argued among themselves who would be the greatest among them, they all except John ran away from Him and Peter even denied Him, yet Jesus called them His friends and went ahead and died on the cross for them and for us.
His death on the cross reveals how much He wanted to become our friends.
In fact, the bible says, He died so that whether we are alive and die we may live together with Him. Our friendship with Jesus Christ is not only for here and now but will go beyond our death in this world. Indeed, We will live with Him forever and He is our friend forever.
Do you believe Jesus died for you? Do you acknowledge you used to go your own way straying away from His path, but now you have returned to Him as your Lord and Savior?
He died on the cross. Can you believe that’s how much e wanted us to become His friends? Indeed, He died on the cross so that He may become our friend. But, that was not enough, Jesus talked about another condition for us to become His friends. “V. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.” And His commandment was in v. 12 that we love one another as Jesus have loved us.
Jesus was saying that if we are His friends then we have to love other brothers as Jesus has loved us. Jesus was saying that if we are friends of Jesus then we should become friends to one another.
But, is this what happening among Christians nowadays? Unfortunately, it seems, church is not much different from our neighbor and nursing home or work place. In our churches are full of nice and friendly people, but no one is willing to go all the way to offer himself or herself to be a real friend of others. No wonder Church is full of the lonely people like any other group and club. Any given moment people are ready to leave to join another church. They may be forever committed to Jesus but never committed to other brothers and sisters.
But, Jesus says, the real sign of being His disciples is to love other brothers, which means being committed to each other. Though we have to commit ourselves to Christ and though we have to love Jesus with all our souls, Jesus didn't say, if you love me just as I loved you you are my disciples. Rather He said, If you love one another as I have loved you, you are my disciples and my friends..
(We are talking about a serious matter) If you love only Jesus but not your brothers then you may not be Jesus’ friend.
We can love our brothers because Jesus first loved us. Since we came to know what love is because Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, we can and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 Jn 3:16) Because Jesus loves us, He expects us to become friends to one another, committed to one another to the point that we can offer our own lives for others.
I don’t mean to say, You have to love and care for all the Christians you know. I don’t mean to say you have to make all Christians your friends. God knows our limitation that’s why He never asked us to love all the world, but our neighbor. In the letter Paul sent to Ephesians, he defines church as neighbor and family of God. That’s why if you are serious about making friends and becoming friends in order to follow Jesus’ commandment, you have to join a church and make a commitment to the church. Whichever church God may led you to, where Christ is honored and the word of God honored, I would suggest you consider the church as your family and your neighbor as you commit yourself to the church.
I don’t mean to say that I already practice laying down my life for other brothers, but I do believe laying down our lives for other brothers is a great privilege only given to the followers of Christ by Christ Himself. I envy such friendship and relationship. And I am trying for such relationship and I hope you do as well because it was His commandment, not suggestion..
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus was such person and He wants us to become such persons so that His followers and His church may live in such loving relationship in this lonely world. Let’s pray.
We didn’t know what love is until we came to know Jesus who laid down His life for us.
Now that we know what love is, we want to follow Jesus’ example of laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Lord, help us. Holy Spirit, fill us our hearts with the love of Jesus.
